ZELL, Bernhard (thell), Flemish explorer, born in Luxemburg in 1715 ; died there in 1779. He was apprenticed at Bremen, and lived in New Orleans from 1740 till 1759, where he founded a German mercantile house, and, having acquired a fortune, he visited Florida. After the cession of Louisiana to Spain he obtained permission to travel through Mexico, and made an exploration of California and Texas among difficulties of all kinds. In studying the geology of California he came to the conclusion that the country possessed gold-mines, and addressed a memoir to the Marquis de Croix, viceroy of Mexico ; but little attention was paid to it, as explorations sent in former centuries to search for gold in California had utterly failed. The viceroy gave him permission to organize an expedition; but, as he refused further support, Zell returned in 1770 to his native city, where he died. He wrote "Reisen im hmern yon Neu Spanien und Californien," containing an analysis of the soil of several districts of Mexico and California, from which the author concluded that California is a mining" country (2 vols., Luxemburg, 1771-'2), and "Land und Leute der Spanisch-Amerikanischen Colonien" (2 vols., 1778).